


to wrap in wool the star-like shards

by bemusedlybespectacled (ardentintoxication)



Series: Hurt/Comfort Bingo [2013] [8]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chuck Lives, Community: hc_bingo, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Morning Sex, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Threesome - F/M/M, Woman on Top
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-27
Updated: 2014-01-27
Packaged: 2018-01-09 03:19:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1140813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ardentintoxication/pseuds/bemusedlybespectacled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It turns out victory is less glory and prestige, and more a series of hotel rooms in various foreign countries. And Chuck can't stand sleeping alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	to wrap in wool the star-like shards

There’s a knock on their hotel room door when the victory tour’s in Peru, long after they’re supposed to be sleeping and aren’t. It’s Chuck, in his PT uniform and bare feet. “Look, my bed’s too soft,” and what he doesn’t say is _not like the bunks at home_ , “and Max is fine in there for the night, and you have a suite, so, d’you mind if I crash on your couch?”

Mako and Raleigh exchange a look, the kind that doesn’t need the Drift.

“Sure,” says Raleigh. “I think it even rolls out.”

“Thanks,” says Chuck, and he’s on the couch without another word, apparently dead to the world.

Mako snores and Raleigh is a light sleeper in the best of circumstances, and a hotel in Lima is not the best of circumstances. He lays awake, keeping his breathing deep and even, making sure not to disturb her. After a while, he carefully turns to his side.

There’s light pollution coming through a crack in the blackout curtains, and it’s just enough to see by. Chuck is twitching on the bed, his face working. He doesn’t make a sound, and Raleigh doesn’t either, and when Chuck goes abruptly still, then slowly relaxes, Raleigh knows he can sleep.

* * *

There’s a different excuse in Panama City. They let him in anyway.

He stops making them by San Salvador.

A pattern has developed by Mazatlán. He'll arrive earlier in the evening, before they've gone to bed. He might start on the couch before moving to the floor in front of their bed (grumbling that their television watching is keeping him up). Some days Mako will shift down to the end of the bed while they watch old movies on TCM. Some days Raleigh knits on the floor, losing himself in the pattern of stitches. Sometimes Chuck will get up, after the credits roll, and take his place on the couch.

But sometimes - and Raleigh can't tell if it means that it's an especially good day or an especially bad day - Chuck will fall asleep against Mako's leg or Raleigh's shoulder, and he won't wake up even when there's a hand through his hair or a blanket wrapped around him.

Mako will smile at Raleigh. She won't have to speak for him to know that she's thinking,  _He's cute._ _  
_

 _He's hurting_.

 _That, too_. 

On those days, they'll all huddle together, keeping warm in a way that has nothing to do with temperature.

* * *

Their stop in Anchorage is the Hilton, which is a bit smaller than the other hotels they’ve been in. They get a king-sized bed and a view of the ocean (which is as close to being in a Jaeger as they’ll get anymore), but when Chuck knocks on their door, they don’t have a couch to give him.

“Oh,” says Chuck. He shuffles a bit. “I guess I’ll-”

“We can share,” Raleigh says quickly. “If you want.”

Chuck’s face goes from surprised to sneering. He opens his mouth to reply but Raleigh talks over him. “Don’t say a word, Hansen. Just get in or get out.”

Chuck gets on the side farthest from the window. Mako claims the middle. Raleigh is shunted to the far end, but there’s just enough room for all of them. There’s snow outside - April in Anchorage might as well be January - but under the blanket it’s almost unbearably warm. Raleigh sinks into the heat gratefully, wrapping an arm around Mako and holding her to his chest.

Sometime in the darkness before morning, Mako blinks awake. Another nightmare. She’s about to go back to sleep when she notices that Chuck has worked his way free of the blanket. He’s shivering, though the room itself isn’t particularly cold.

She pulls the blanket up over his shoulders, smoothing it longer than is strictly necessary, knowing it won’t do anything to smooth the creases on his face.

* * *

It isn’t planned, exactly. But the morning is slow and languid, and they don’t have any public appearances until the afternoon, so when Mako rolls over and whispers, “Do you want to?”, Raleigh says, “If that’s what you both want.”

Mako rolls to her other side to find Chuck already awake. He looks uncertain. “But- you and-”

“We’ve talked about it,” says Mako, which is true. She and Raleigh know each other’s fantasies and boundaries as well as they know their favorite breakfast cereals. “And we both like you.”

Chuck manages an impressively smug grin for someone with bedhead as ridiculous as his. “Oh, _really?_  I should have-”

Mako presses her lips to his, slips her tongue in when he gasps. She pulls away after a moment, reaching around to pull Raleigh up and over her to bring him down to kiss her. He breaks the kiss, and Mako takes the opportunity to sit up and scoot back against the pillows. She has a devious look in her eye.

Chuck sits up, looking at Raleigh. “Well, it’s only fair,” he says, before grabbing the back of Raleigh’s neck and kissing him, too.

Mako laughs. “So glad I’m not the only one enjoying this,” says Chuck, kissing Raleigh again.

“Let’s not leave the lady out."

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

They take her tank top and underwear off between them, each one taking a breast. Mako's eyes practically roll back in her head. "Oh!"

"There's no one else on this floor," Raleigh reminds her. "Be as loud as you want." He goes back to sucking on her right nipple, swirling his tongue around it. Chuck bites. Mako screams into her fist.

Chuck pulls off her breast with a lingering suck. He slips a finger into her, and she hisses, canting her hips towards him. He adds another, holding one of her legs down with his other hand. 

"Curl your fingers," says Raleigh, pausing in his quest to leave a trail of hickies down Mako's neck. "Try to hit her g-spot. Assuming you know what that is."

"I know what a g-spot is,  _Ra_ leigh, I'm not a _complete_ virgin."

"Sure you're not. That's why you're curling down instead of up."

"Boys," says Mako. "Shut up and let me fuck you."

"Whatever you want."

"Uh, condoms?" asks Chuck.

“Zippered pocket, blue suitcase."

"Raleigh first," says Mako. She's trying so hard not to giggle, but the laughter keeps bubbling up without her meaning to let it.

With Raleigh, it's like being in the Drift: it’s just an extension of what they already have. They're connected by bodies instead of by minds, but it's the same almost painful intimacy. Most Drift partners don't end up having sex with each other - not all compatibility is sexual, or even romantic - but when they do, it enhances everything. There's just enough of a connection, enough lingering ghost Drift, that she knows what he needs, and she pushes herself on top of him and rides him until he's losing control, gasping underneath her, losing himself in what she gives him.

Chuck is different. He's shaped differently, he behaves differently. He has all of Raleigh's enthusiasm tempered with a lack of skill, and moreso a lack of trust. "It's okay," says Mako. She lowers herself over him and tilts his head towards her. "Chuck, look at me."

He's looking at her like he still doesn't believe this is happening. He holds that expression even as he thrusts into her, even when he comes inside her, even when his head is between her legs afterwards and his tongue is guiding her through her orgasm.

* * *

After, Mako retrieves the remote from the bedside table and flicks through the channels, trying to find something that isn’t about them. She settles on reruns of Friends - she hasn’t seen it, it was before her time - and lets Raleigh fall asleep on her shoulder. Two episodes into the marathon, Chuck starts to get out of bed.

“Where are you going?”

Chuck looks back, guiltily. “We have a press conference-”

“In four hours,” Mako says. “Sit.”

He doesn’t.

“Chuck…” She looks intently at him. “This doesn’t have to be the only time.”

“I- what?”

“This doesn’t have to be the only time,” she says again, not raising her voice, not acting like he didn’t hear the first time. "Did you think we didn't want you?"

"No, I just-" Chuck huffs. "I don't want to be the third wheel."

"We won't-"

"Yeah, you will. You're  _Drift compatible_ , Mako, you think that after that I can just waltz in-"

"Who says we're only Drift compatible with each other?" It seems Raleigh is awake now. "And even if we aren't Drift compatible with you, Chuck, what does that matter?"

"You're not intruding," says Mako. "We're letting you in." She pats the spot next to her on the bed. "Sit."

Chuck sits.

"We can negotiate this more later," says Mako. "But right now, I want to watch television and cuddle."

"So  _bossy_ ," grumbles Chuck, without any real heat.

"Come on, she's _Mako Mori_. Are you going to tell her we can't watch TV and cuddle? Because I'm not."

"Shut up, Becket."

They make it to the press conference on time. Barely.

**Author's Note:**

> For someone who's actually _been_ in a threesome, this was remarkably hard to write.
> 
> Title is (for once) of my own invention. For the square "cuddling" for hurt/comfort bingo, even though we're now in the make-up stretch.


End file.
